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STANDINGS
INTERVIEW
9
John Gentry, one of the most experienced engineers in
motorsport, has joined the TCR International Series to take
care of Michela Cerruti’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR.
Gentry boasts an impressive professional CV that began in
Formula One had a few interludes in Moto GP and
continued in Touring Cars, single seaters and Sportscars
before teaming up with Romeo Ferraris to work on the
Giulietta TCR project.
“It all started for me at March at the end of 1970; we were
building all sorts of cars, from Formula Ford to CanAm and
it was a really good introduction to working in a proper
racing team,” said John. “After nearly twenty years in F1,
I went motorcycle racing for a couple of years, then back
to Formula One with Leyton House, then back to bikes for
three years before getting my first introduction to Touring
Cars at TWR in the design office, working on the Volvo
BTCC project. Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to
work for teams like Brabham under Bernie (Ecclestone)
Renault Sport and Triple 8 with Derek Warwick.”
“I wrote to Mario Ferraris, saying I was interested on
working for him, not realising that Miki (Michela Cerruti)
was already driving for the team. I’d worked with her in
Auto GP, where she won at Imola and finished on the
podium in Monza, so that sealed the deal for me. I think
it’s nice to have a lady driving our car, but the guys
shouldn’t take her for granted. The Alfa Romeo is an
interesting car; it needs some refining as we built it quite
quickly, but I think it could be quite successful - we’re
still modifying it but our aim is to have two cars in
Estoril. It’s quite easy to find gains when you’re quite a
way off the pace, but it gets so much harder the closer
you get to the others.”
The Giulietta TCR
is in safe hands
John Gentry with
Michela Cerruti